Editorial: Posthuman Conceptions of Change in Empirical Educational Research

In this special issue of Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology the focus is on posthuman conceptions of change in empirical educational research. In the six included papers, the authors address and challenge different aspects of change in different educational settings – ranging from preschools, to universities and public pedagogies. Through activating posthuman perspectives, the papers invite the reader to a wide range of understandings of the concept of change. A conclusion drawn from the papers is that when working with posthuman change in empirical educational research, change becomes highlighted as a methodological endeavour while simultaneously being engaged with as processes of transformations in the educational practice. What is specifically emphasized is that through posthuman conceptions, change is not something out there to be found, but an emergent phenomenon that unfolds as we explore it.

Die kybernetische (Neu-)Ordnung

The New Cybernetic Order. Thoughts on the Cybernetic Governing of Education After an attempt to determine key features of cybernetics (Chapter 1) and the consideration of the conditions of the cybernetization of the present (Chapter 2) the article takes a closer look at three fields (Chapter 3): empirical educational research, governance and finally the cybernetic self. The three areas coincide in the critical question of the controllability of pedagogical processes and mutually condition and legitimise each other. The central thesis is that these fields are closely connected and that cybernetization of education entails a depoliticization (Chapter 4).

Der Erzieher als Techniker, die Technologie der Pädagogik

The Educator as a Technician, the Technology of Pedagogy The article reconstructs the ambivalent history of dealing with the metaphor of technology between educational philosophy, practical knowledge of educationalists and empirical educational research. The sharp rejection of technology and a relatively unproblematic reflection and use of pedagogical technologies characterize the historical situation. The diagnosis of the simultaneity of technology deficit and technology verdict has redefined the subject and above all has shown that, despite new research, there is still no universally recognized understanding of the practices of education or clarity about the connection between knowledge, science and action in basic theory and educational philosophy. The metaphor codes fractions, but complicates the formation of theory.

How to characterize research and scholarship that matters for the educational field?

For many decades, debates about the ‘what’ and ‘how’ have haunted the academic discipline of education. The temptation to rely on methods characteristic of empirical educational research can also be observed in some developments of philosophy of education. Both stances are criticized for neglecting various aspects in their approach as well as in the content studied: the field of education and child-rearing. Starting from the crystalline purity that may be looked for either in content or method, it is argued the research and scholarship that matter for the educational field should envisage research and reflection that attends sensitively and practically to both the particular and the general dimensions of that which one is examining. This requires a pragmatic concept of interpretation, a way of characterizing philosophy that focuses not only on the overview it may offer, and a balance between all the elements at stake. Only thus may it be possible to ask the right questions and to take up personal ownership of one’s own ethical and practical stance towards the people, things and phenomena one is researching, an invitation to find one’s own place within the world, helping us to make sense of life and to act responsibly.

Education

This article explores the correlation between poverty and education. Poverty has been a core concept of interest in research on educational inequality. However, the conceptualization of poverty in empirical educational research does not always, or even usually, conform to definitions and measures that are prevalent in the poverty literature. To further complicate matters, the educational literature subscribes to no uniform set of alternative conceptualizations. This article begins with a discussion of three important functions of education in almost every modern society: imparting knowledge, socializing children, and transmitting family advantage or disadvantage. It then considers the impact of poverty on education at the national level and how education is affected by community and neighborhood poverty as well as household poverty. It concludes with an assessment of the impact of education on poverty.